Ai
by mew-tsubaki
Summary: Oneshot, light slash, post-ep12. It's a word that means a lot, and it's hard for boys and girls. It's even harder for boys alone. *Very light T for some cursing.


**Ai**

A Free! oneshot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The _Free!_ characters belong to Oji Koji-sensei, not to me. I love how it's something so easy to miss… :] Read, review, and enjoy!

- ^-^3

They were back on campus, and Seijuro came up alongside Rin. He was all smiles as he did the dangerous thing and flung an arm around Rin's shoulders. "So…," the captain drawled, "did I hear you right?"

Rin grunted. "What? I already apologized for the relay. I _will_ do my best in the future. For Samezuka."

Seijuro dismissed the topic with a wave of his hand. "No, not that." His golden eyes glinted. "You and Aiichiro."

"So I thanked him and apologized to him, too," Rin stated through gritted teeth, feeling stupidly embarrassed. "What of it?"

The captain's face fell. "…whoa. Wait. Did you even realize…?"

"Realize what?" Rin gave him a look.

Seijuro backed off and chuckled to himself. "No, never mind. It's nothing."

"What?" Rin repeated, getting agitated.

"Forget it, Matsuoka. Oi, Nitori!" he said to Aiichiro behind Rin, "make sure our club clown here gets to the common room in an hour for the poorest celebration ever, got it?"

"Yes, captain!" Aiichiro said. He smiled at Rin. "I've got our bags, Matsuoka-senpai."

Rin felt awkward letting Aiichiro carry all that—Rin was bigger than him, for crying out loud—so he took his own bag. "What the hell's Mikoshiba on about?" he asked as they headed into the dorm.

"Ah…" Aiichiro laughed uneasily. "Mikoshiba-senpai was telling the other guys that he wanted to have a celebration for our 'almost winning.'"

"Tch!" Rin tossed his bag onto his bed as they entered their room. "Does he have to rub it in anymore? I think I'll skip. You, Ai?"

There was a pause. Then Aiichiro seemed to snap out of his stupor to respond. "Uh, right! I mean, I don't know. Mikoshiba-senpai actually is fairly upset at our loss, and I'd hate to be stuck with some weird or random chore next time we practice…"

Rin raised an eyebrow. Was it just him, or had Aiichiro hesitated before, too, when he'd thanked him for his support?

"We should put our stuff away," the smaller boy remarked, and he went about emptying their bags and putting their clothes in the drawers and the closet while Rin, like usual, stretched out on the lower bunk.

He didn't ask that Aiichiro take care of their things or their room; Aiichiro simply had always done that. But now that Rin had realized that Aiichiro had been there for him all this time, Rin felt bad letting Aiichiro continue to do everything like usual. "Ai, I can do some of this."

Again, another hesitation. "It's fine, Matsuoka-senpai." But he did relinquish Rin's own stuff to him.

Rin slid a look down at Aiichiro, but the younger male was looking elsewhere. Rin wondered… "Do you want to go to Mikoshiba's…anti-celebration thing?"

"Ah!" Aiichiro lit up when he looked up at Rin. But then he seemed to realize himself, and he looked away again. Still, he nodded. "We should, even if only to avoid any punishments…"

The redheaded shark pulled a face. Something definitely was up with his kouhai; he just didn't know what. Well, if he went with Aiichiro tonight, maybe he could ask Aiichiro simply to be honest with him when they turned in for the night…

As requested, they met their fellow swim team members in the common room the following hour. And things were pretty chaotic.

Someone had managed to produce an ancient karaoke system, and Mikoshiba currently was belting out a pop star's debut single. There were also streamers, a million and one snacks, and all kinds of drinks. Rin actually was surprised that none of the drinks were alcoholic, considering the hype with some of the guys… "Sure you want to be here?" Rin asked Aiichiro.

"Uh…"

They watched as one of their teammates fell sobbing to the floor at their feet. "We _almost_ had it… Nationals…!"

Aiichiro exchanged a look with Rin. "Perhaps not…"

But then Mikoshiba saw Rin, and all hell broke loose. For the better part of the hour, Rin had to sit beside Mikoshiba, unable to escape since the captain had an arm around him while complaining about how perfectly he'd coached the team this semester and how he'd come so close to getting Kou to agree to a date (Rin noted that he'd have to have a talk with his sister later to remind her again to stay away from Mikoshiba) and how it'd all gone up in smoke because Iwatobi had kinda–sorta won–lost at the relay and how Samezuka only had a real shot at nationals every once in a while with the right members, so on and so forth.

From across the room, Aiichiro smiled weakly at Rin and raised his glass to him by way of apology. Well, at least he wasn't hesitating _this_ time.

Eventually most of their teammates fell asleep or dragged themselves to their rooms once all the sugar had worn off. Rin left Mikoshiba knocked out on the couch…but not without tying a pink streamer around his head first. Rin usually didn't bother with mischief, but Mikoshiba had been a pain in the ass, even if he had been right about most things. Plus, putting the streamer on Mikoshiba had made Aiichiro laugh, so it had been worth it.

When they got back to their room, Aiichiro changed his clothes, still smiling at what had just happened. "You don't think the captain will realize you did it, Matsuoka-senpai?"

Rin shrugged. "Who cares? No one expects that kind of thing from me, so I'm safe." He smirked at Aiichiro. "Or maybe I'll just tell them you did it, Ai."

Oh, for crying out loud—there was a pause even before Aiichiro _blushed_ this time! "Uh, r—right…"

"Hey. What's with you?"

"What do you mean?" Even as he said it, Aiichiro was avoiding Rin's eyes, and he hustled to climb up to his bunk.

But Rin sat up and grabbed Aiichiro's ankle, not pulling but definitely stopping him. He stuck his head out and looked up at the top bunk. "Nitori…I'm sorry. For, ah, being such a jerk…" Rin frowned. He wasn't good with apologies. "But I thought I'd made that clear earlier…?"

"No, you did, senpai. It's fine." Yet Aiichiro didn't move.

"So what the hell _is_ 'it'? I can tell something's bothering you."

"No, it's just…"

"Ai, out with it already!" Rin glared and waited until Aiichiro peeked over the side.

He was beet red. "You don't even notice, do you?"

"Eh?"

Aiichiro ducked his eyes again. "I got so used to you calling me 'Nitori,' senpai… Then you called me 'Ai' earlier, and have since. I'm…just… I don't even think I could get used to that…"

Rin blinked. That was all? He hadn't thought it such a big deal…then he stopped and listened to himself. …oh. "Ah, um, sorry about that… I guess it's a little strange, being called that, huh?"

"It's a girl's name…"

"Ah!" Rin laughed. "Well, look at that. You pointed out my girly name before, as well as Haruka's and the others' earlier. It's kind of ironic, huh, that you could have a girly nickname?"

"_Senpai_, give it some _thought_…!"

Rin stood and tried to see Aiichiro's face. "Oi, look at me. What's the big deal?" Without a response, Rin did as Aiichiro said. The first thing that came to mind was that he'd gotten too comfortable using first names and nicknames, because of all the time he'd spent in Australia. But then Rin finally paid attention not to his English context but to his Japanese words… His face grew hot, and he scowled at Aiichiro. "H—Hey! It's just a name."

Ever blunt as always, Aiichiro replied with: "Then stop saying 'love' all the time!" He buried his face in his pillow, but Rin could hear him mumble, "It's such an awkward word for guys to use…"

The older teen lay back down on his bed, thinking about Aiichiro's words. Granted, when he thought about it, "love" wasn't a horrid word to use… A bit awkward, yeah—he'd give Aiichiro that. But what was wrong with it? It was a little _strong_, but… The more he thought about it, the more jumbled his thoughts became. "Well, whatever," Rin finally groused. "…thanks," he added, suddenly feeling that what he'd said before hadn't been enough, and wondering if Aiichiro would understand that he was more than grateful for all that had happened between them since becoming teammates, roommates, friends, and… Was there anything else, anything more to be? No longer could he brush off the feeling that Seijuro had noticed it before Rin had… "Hey, Ai."

Aiichiro groaned.

"I like calling you that, okay? Deal with it."

"Can't we go back to the days of you barking 'Nitori' at me?"

"…no. Or, I'll… I'll just save that for when I'm angry, all right?" Rin paused. "I won't use it around others, if you hate it that much."

For once, Aiichiro responded immediately. "I don't hate it. …but it's a little…when others hear, senpai…"

Rin closed his eyes, happier and relieved. "All right, then. And, Ai?"

"Yes, Matsuoka-senpai?"

"It's 'Rin.'"

"Yes, Rin-san."

The redhead's right eye twitched in annoyance. "Just. 'Rin.'"

Several hesitations strung together, and then: "…Rin?"

"Good."

"…that's not too…informal for us?"

Rin opened one sienna-colored eye and looked up. Aiichiro was hanging over the side. At least he was looking at him again. "I think it's perfect. For us."

Aiichiro nodded, which seemed funny, being upsidedown. He waved goodnight clumsily at Rin then, and Rin reached out at caught Aiichiro's wrist, letting him pull up only until Rin had his hand in his. After a moment, Aiichiro gave his hand a small squeeze. "Goodnight…Rin."

Rin smirked triumphantly to himself and squeezed Aiichiro's hand, too. "Goodnight, Ai." And then he let go…for the night.

- ^-^3

**8D YES. So much better than writing an English paper! :'D I really just… GAH. *loves Rintori* I mean, seriously? How could ANYONE miss that Rin called Nitori not "Nitori" nor "Aiichiro" in ep12 but "AI"? Okay? HE CALLED HIM "AI." It's totally the start of something for them, ngl… ;P And Rin's stubborn, too. He's not gonna let Aiichiro get away from him at all. Rin's like a child who's possessive of his toys when it comes to his loved ones—it explains why he keeps tabs on Haruka, Makoto, and Nagisa, watches out for Kou, and couldn't let go of his grudge over swimming with Haruka and the others again. So consider Aiichiro just branded now. XD**

**Thanks for reading, and please do review!**

**-mew-tsubaki -w-**


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